Do you remember when greeting with old friends and family were anything other than “How’s school?” and “What’s your major?” Me either…

Let me take a minute to remind you of something this GPA saving season. You are more than your grades.

When you left high school, you were ultimately faced with the question, “Who are you going to be?” Put that out of your mind and pretend you ended up not attending college. Does that mean you never amounted to anything? Does that mean you just stayed the way you were forever?

I want to clarify something that I forget way too often….

Your degree does not define you.

I know you have heard this and use it to temporarily motivate yourself to finish a paper or get through an exam, but do we ever take the time to understand what we’re saying? We get it in our heads that this is all we are supposed to be focused on-getting that degree. How could we ever be more wrong?

You are getting an education to get a job, that’s it. Don’t get me wrong, I want that job as much as anyone. I want to be able to support myself and possibly my future family. However, my ability to get my education, at whatever speed, does not define me as a person. What I truly want to be in life is a compassionate and loving person. I don’t need my degree to do that, and neither do you.

It would truly rain on my parade if I lost a scholarship, and retaking a class is not a part of my plan. But I know that this in no way impacts who I am as a person. Who I am as a person can be discovered in how I treat people and what I do to make a difference in the world.

I try my best to get my degree. My career really is a huge part in who I am aiming to become, but it is not the point of my existence. I have watched people later in life, and the last thing on their mind is never their education or their career. They love their family, they care about their friends and they truly just want to make a difference in this world.

A degree is the best route for me, yes. But, in the “Law of Having A Good Life and Being A Good Person,” (I made that up, I don’t think it exists), nowhere does it say getting my degree in 5 years will matter long term. It does not say I am likely to mess up everything by even getting the wrong degree.

You are going far in life, but the truth is that that has nothing to do with the destination and everything to do with your heart.

Stay strong, my friends. We will finish this year yet.